Flooded basment

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

Ran out of garage space today so I had the bright idea of building a motorcycle in my basement..
( yes my girlfriend is pissed )
started cleaning through our storage trying to get some more space when all of the sudden i realized my socks were soaked.
my brain exploded.
oh no.. the whole carpet is soaked.. oh no everything i had stored in cardboard boxes is soaked.
oh no.. that wall has mold..

my question for ingo is, how do i track dowm the source of the water? Judging by the advanced mold and the smell id say this has been sitting like this for at least a few weeks.

my water heater is placed in the center of the basement and has a small room finished around it to make less unsightly the wall nearest to it appears to have the most damage, leading me to believe that the issue must be a pipe in there?

Im already out a few hundred bucks in audio equipment that may or not be able to be salvaged. And ive already found two photo albums that are ruined.

my lady gets home at 9 and is going to lose her mind.

I guess no motorcycle this week.

 

[Leadeye]

Make sure your gutters are clear and that water is being carried away from the house by downspouts. Water heater leaks you can usually find, but my experience with mystery leaks in a basement usually goes back to gutters after a rain.

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

Flooded Basement* gutters likely arent the problem. Pretty good at staying on top of that. Ill take a look anyway in the morning after i clean this mess

 

[Leadeye]

Best of luck, I've been there before. Even came home to an angry wife wanting a solution to the flooded basement. All behind me now, living on a dry ridge.

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

Best of luck, I've been there before. Even came home to an angry wife wanting a solution to the flooded basement. All behind me now, living on a dry ridge.

Luckily my lady was so smart when we moved in she said she would use the plastic totes for storage and i could use the cardboard boxes.
seems all of her things are just fine. Should save me some headache

 

[jkaetz]

I don't see any mention of sump pump, do you have one? Are there any areas of the basement that are not wet?

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

I don't see any mention of sump pump, do you have one? Are there any areas of the basement that are not wet?

I run two sump pumps in ground. Both seem to be running normally i say this because you can hear then fire up.. but its another thing to check.Water seems to be focused on one corner of my basment, the corner full of irreplaceable items.

Should i clean the water or wait untill someone comes and looks at it so they can figure out where it is coming from?

 

[Leadeye]

Luckily my lady was so smart when we moved in she said she would use the plastic totes for storage and i could use the cardboard boxes.
seems all of her things are just fine. Should save me some headache

Smart woman. She might have had a previous experience like this before.

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

For background, a lot of my house is new tech forced into old architecture. I have evidence that suggests i live in an old Sears home.

it is a rental, have not alerted land lord yet..

 

[Hexlobular]

Take some pictures of it for someone to troubleshoot; get the water out of there to prevent it saturating or creating new mold further. Don't run fans in an effort to dry it, as this will only push the moisture around to other areas in a basement. Sop up what you can, and get a dehumidifier and let it do its thing.

 

[91FXRS]

For background, a lot of my house is new tech forced into old architecture. I have evidence that suggests i live in an old Sears home.

it is a rental, have not alerted land lord yet..

Call the landlord, take pictures and get you stuff out of the area.

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

Hole in the bottom of the water heater. Found it

 

[Crittersdad]

If you have someone to come in and clean up the mold stay away from ServPro.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Hole in the bottom of the water heater. Found it

Are you sure that's it? Hole in bottom of giant tank of pressurized water... water on the floor... Have you consulted a pro?

Glad you found it though. Good luck!

Oh, and doesnt your landlord have it in a tray with a drain line run to the floor drain? That cheap insurance ($15+ drain pipe) would have saved you guys a huge headache.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

So. What kind of motorcycle you building?

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

So. What kind of motorcycle you building?

Suzuki gn400 hard tailed and stretched.. will be really cool if i ever get it done. I had a shadow 700 but it was more bike than i wanted.
i traded a psa build AR for it to a friend. He is more excited than i am i think.

and nope cameramonkey no tray no drain pipe. Woulda been nice though!

 

[Hatin Since 87]

Nice! Hurry up and get it built, I ride down to Bloomington and Nashville quite a bit. Good luck on the basement, and the girlfriend

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

Nice! Hurry up and get it built, I ride down to Bloomington and Nashville quite a bit. Good luck on the basement, and the girlfriend

She was less wound up than expected after she realized i was the only one who had anything damaged.

this will be my first bike build. Somewhat anxious ill get it done and be afraid to ride it hah.
also, will have to figure out a mechanism to pull it up the stairs and out of the basement.. deal with that part later i suppose

 

[Hatin Since 87]

I kinda wondered how you was gonna get it out, but figured you already had that covered. I’d move some stuff from the garage to the basement and put the bike in the garage.

My ninja was my first bike, just ride short rides to get used to it you’ll be fine. Watch other people, they’re the only problem you’ll encounter. If you need any help with anything let me know, half the fun in riding is the building/replacing stuff.